Monday, November 15, 2010

MANILA, Philippines - Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. has given notice of an increase in its pump prices effective 12:01 a.m. on Tuesday.

In a text message, the oil refiner said it has informed the Department of Energy of an increase in its diesel and kerosene products by P2.00 per liter, unleaded gasoline by P1/lit and regular gasoline by P0.75/li.

The DOE had already appealed to oil players to impose the least possible price uptick to cushion the impact on consumers.

Other oil firms are also expected to follow Shell's move.

Without quoting any price movements, Chevron earlier said that the entry of "ber" months usually signals higher oil prices.

President and Chief Executive Chito Villavicencio, however, announced a 1-week reprieve on any price hike. He said the company would wait until next week, in the hopes that international prices would correct and the peso appreciates.

If international oil prices further go up, he said the company will no longer have a choice but to reflect these in local prices. The hike would also have to be in one tranche, he said.

MANILA, Philippines - Even if oil companies will only implement a P1 hike in diesel prices Monday night, jeepney transport groups plan to file a petition to increase fares by P1 for the first 4 kilometers and 10 to 15 cents for the succeeding kilometers.

Zenaida Maranan, Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines president and official of 1-UTAK party-list group, said that jeepney drivers and operators cannot bear to shoulder rising diesel prices any longer.

She said they will seek a fare adjustment once it reaches P35 per liter.

Diesel now sells between P34.20 to P34.60 per liter in Metro Manila.

Based on the average price of imported oil last week, the equivalent increase for the week is more than P2 per liter for diesel and more than P1.50 for gasoline.

The question is: which oil player will start the oil price hike?

Shell answered the question by announcing that it will raise the prices of its petroleum products starting midnight.

The Department of Energy had earlier admitted that media reports of an impending hefty hike for diesel and gasoline is accurate.

Estimates show a P2 per liter hike in diesel and more than P1 per liter for gasoline.

The DOE appealed to oil players to impose the least possible price increase to cushion the impact on consumers.

The energy department, however, did not reveal its exact computations despite subscribing to the data on imported oil prices.

Independent player Flying-V has confirmed an equivalent price hike but its president and chief executive officer, Chito Villavicencio, announced a one-week reprieve on any price hikes from the company.

According to Villavicencio, Flying-V will wait for prices next week, hoping that these will soften and the peso appreciates.

If international prices further go up, the independent oil player says it will no longer have a choice but to implement the increase in one tranche.

IMBOA members added that they had a meeting 6 p.m. on Sunday with MMDA officials and they were expecting another follow-up meeting before the actual implementation of the number coding scheme.

Facing revocation of their franchise, bus operators said they have no other option but to follow the program.

Activist transport group Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operaytors Nationwide secretary general George San Mateo is siding with the bus operators and believes that they should be treated fairly.

MANILA, Philippines - This is a would-be OFW's dream: to be able to work abroad, without having to pay for the infamously high placement fees that usually stand between Filipinos and what they believe to be a bright future away from the country.

South Korea has offered an additional 6,000 more slots for OFWs in the factory-based sector, bringing to 10,000 the total new job offers to Filipinos for this year alone.

The good news, however, is not just in the numbers, but in the fact that these 10,000 OFWs will not need to pay a single peso as placement fee.

The deal with South Korea is government-to-government, meaning all those who wish to apply need not pass through employment agencies.

The only catch is that aside from the skills needed to do the job, all applicants need to be proficient in the Korean language, in written, spoken, and aural aspects.

Last Sunday, more than 10,000 aspirants in various testing sites all over the country took a second proficiency test in Korean.

Nino Clerigo is one of them. He recalls how hard it was to learn a language completely different from his own.

In the name of a future he wishes to have in South Korea, he enrolled in a language class and studied in his free time. "It almost made me give up at the start. It was so hard, but I got the hang of it. I really want to work in Korea, because there's no placement fee."

The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), meanwhile, is encouraging OFWs to try it out in South Korea.

Aside from the lack of placement fees, they say the government-to-government set-up creates a greater safeguard for the welfare of Filipinos.

"Of course, you must first learn the language before you can function well there," explains director Joy Sanchez of the POEA Welfare and Employment Office.

Sanchez adds that historically, South Korea pays more for the same factory work compared to other countries. A first-time factory worker can earn as much as P30,000 to P40,000 a month working there.

DUBAI - A Filipina maid and her Bangladeshi lover will receive 100 lashes and be deported for having sex out of wedlock in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, a newspaper said on Monday.

The Sharjah Sharia Court ordered the Filipina to be lashed 100 times and deported for "unlawful sex," said the Gulf News report.

The Bangladeshi would be lashed for adultery and jailed for a year for entering the house belonging to the Filipina's sponsor without permission before being deported.

Foreign workers in the UAE and most other Gulf states must be sponsored by an employer to work in the country. In some cases, employers hold the worker's passport and can deny permission to change jobs.

The Filipina's sponsor saw her lover leaving the house and reported it to police, Gulf News said, adding the two admitted to having sex after their arrest.

The report said Muslim foreigners who commit adultery are lashed and deported, while non-Muslims are jailed and deported. Both the Filipina and the Bangladeshi are Muslims, it said.

The UAE aims to be an international business and tourism hub and relies heavily on foreign workers, but also seeks to maintain traditional mores, leading to the periodic arrest of foreigners for offences such as sex out of wedlock or kissing in public.

MANILA, Philippines - Education Secretary Armin Luistro could face rough sailing before the Commission on Appointments after one of its members said she will challenge Luistro's nomination as education chief.

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago said she objects to Luistro's nomination as secretary of the Department of Education, citing conflict of interest and gross ignorance of the law.

In a letter to CA education committee chair Edgardo Angara, Santiago said she will attend the CA plenary on Wednesday to oppose Luistro's confirmation as education secretary.

Lawyers for the World War II comfort women called on the Supreme Court for the resignation of its colleague, Associate Justice Mariano Del Castillo, to save the high court from embarrassment following the plagiarism allegations in his penned decisions.

MANILA, Philippines - The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) announced Monday that 191 out of 699 passed the Librarian Licensure Examination given by the Board for Librarians in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Davao and Legazpi this November 2010.

The successful examinees who garnered the ten (10) highest places are the following:

LONDON - Somalia has replaced Iraq as the state most at risk from terrorist attack, according to a ranking by global analysts Maplecroft, which sees threats also rising in Russia, Greece and Yemen but falling in India and Algeria. The Philippines was listed at 8, up two notches from the previous list released February.

SHANGHAI—A fire engulfed a Shanghai high-rise building Monday, killing 12 and injuring 90, as panicked residents stumbled over each other as they fled and thick smoke spread over China's commercial hub.

MANILA, Philippines – Saranggani Rep. Manny Pacquiao will be awarded with the Congressional Medal of Distinction after winning his 8th world title, House Majority Leader Neptali "Boyet" Gonzales II said Monday.

MANILA, Philippines - Fresh from snaring yet another world title, boxing icon Manny Pacquiao will open his colorful life further and share his journey from being a poor barrio kid to one of the richest athletes in the world through his autobiography.

Dr. Randolph Molo, a sports medicine specialist at the St. Luke's Medical Center, treats many of the county's national athletes. He said an average boxer has at least 30 professional fights in his career before retiring.

In the long term, most of the boxers suffer micro-trauma or small changes in the brain due to the cumulative blows to the head. The micro-trauma leads to brain cell dementia or Parkinson's disease. Boxers lose their balance and experience tremors, he added.

A single punch from a distance of two feet at 30 kilometers per hour can push the brain to hit the skull and cause bleeding or trauma in the brain, he added.

"If you'll get hit here (pointing at the face), the force of the hit will actually push it a little bit backwards at tatama ang soft part of the brain with the hard part of the skull. Every time tumatama iyon nako-contuse o nabugbog, in Tagalog, iyong brain," said Molo.

He added that all of the received blows multiplied with the number of professional fights may lead to serious illnesses.

Molo, however, said it may not happen to Pacquiao because the Filipino boxing icon is always on the giving end and not the receiving end – meaning that the Pacman is the one punching more than receiving blows from his opponent.

He also cited the danger of fighting against a heavier opponent - the heavier the opponent, the more force or power of the punch received by a lighter fighter. He said this poses health risks no matter how fit the fighter maybe.

Meanwhile, Pacquiao's mother, Dionesia, renewed her appeal for her son to retire from boxing.

MANILA, Philippines - Mexican boxer Antonio Margarito, who was defeated by Manny Pacquiao on Saturday (Sunday Philippine time), has been confined at a Dallas hospital due to a fractured right eye socket.

With the win, the country is now ranked 9th, with a total of 1 gold and 3 bronze medals.

The other bronze medals were both won in DanceSport by the tandem of Charlea Lagaras and Ronnie Steeven Vergara - one for the Latin-Cha-cha-cha event and another in the Latin-Paso Doble event, both held on Sunday.

Jason Richardson scored 34 points and the Phoenix Suns hit the second-most 3-pointers in NBA history to hold off the Los Angeles Lakers 121-116 on Sunday night. The two-time defending league champions lost their second in a row and first at home this season. Steve Nash added 21 points and 13 assists, Channing Frye had 20 points, and Hedo Turkoglu had 17 points for the Suns, who beat the Lakers.

Even without two starters, the Houston Rockets are climbing out of the hole they dug to start the season. The New York Knicks seem headed toward continuing their recent holiday tradition of being hopelessly behind by Thanksgiving. Kevin Martin scored 28 points, Luis Scola added 24, and the Rockets sent the Knicks to their fifth straight loss with a 104-96 victory on Sunday night.

Matt Bonner took advantage of being left open from long distance to put together an impressive line of lucky sevens: seven shots from 3-point range, seven makes and seven straight wins for the San Antonio Spurs. Bonner scored 21 points and just missed matching the best 3-point shooting outing in Spurs' history, leading a long-range barrage as San Antonio beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 117-104.

An experienced lineup of veterans didn't panic after opening the season with five straight losses. Nearly two weeks after that awful start, the Detroit Pistons are on the mend. Rodney Stuckey scored 17 points and Ben Gordon hit a late 3 that sent the Pistons over Sacramento 100-94 Sunday, the Kings' fifth straight loss.

The Atlanta Hawks were relieved but anything but giddy after ending their four-game losing streak. The Hawks' inability to pull away from Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves convinced coach Larry Drew his team hasn't solved all of its troubles. Al Horford had 28 points and 10 rebounds and the Hawks held to beat the Timberwolves 111-105 on Sunday.

MANILA, Philippines - President Benigno Aquino III arrived in Manila on Monday with an appeal to media to focus on the investments he brought home from his 5-day trip to Japan instead of his love life.

Claiming the judge has shown bias, ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation has asked a Quezon City judge to inhibit himself from trying the P11-million damage suit of TV host Willie Revillame against the network.

The poll also showed that across the socio-economic groupings, 74 percent to 83 percent approved of the President's performance, while 78 percent to 85 percent expressed trust to the President.

The President got high approval ratings despite the August 23 Luneta hostage-taking incident, which resulted to the deaths of eight Chinese tourists, and other controversies that hounded his administration.

The Pulse Asia survey was based on a sample of 1,200 respondents nationwide. It has a three percent plus-minus error margin at the 95 percent confidence level.